System and method for validating authorship of an electronic signature session

ABSTRACT

A system and method for electronic signature validation is provided. Embodiments may include analyzing at least one government identification document, wherein analyzing includes authenticating the at least one government identification document. Embodiments may further include extracting personally identifiable information pertaining to a user from the at least one government identification document and displaying a digital copy of a document to be signed to the user. Embodiments may also include capturing an electronic signature of the document by the user and receiving personally identifiable information, wherein the personally identifiable information pertains to the user and enables the user to be uniquely identified. Embodiments may further transmitting a document signing transaction session.

RELATED CASES

This application is a continuation of U.S. Utility application Ser. No.15/213,805 filed on Jul. 19, 2016, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORVALIDATING AUTHORSHIP OF AN ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE SESSION” which claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/194,556 filed on Jul.20, 2015, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VALIDATING AUTHORSHIP OF ANELECTRONIC SIGNATURE SESSION, the contents of which are all incorporatedby reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to validation systems, and more particularly tovalidating authorship of an electronic signature session.

BACKGROUND

Electronic signatures or e-signatures have long been enforceable incontracts, and have the same legal consequences in many jurisdictions asmore traditional forms of executing documents. With the widespreadadoption of mobile devices, there has been a significant increase in theusage of user-centric mobile electronic signature services. Althoughmobile electronic signature services are becoming increasing widespreadit is difficult to conclusively establish the identity of the signingparty so as to protect against fraud.

SUMMARY

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, acomputer-implemented electronic signature validation method is provided.The method may include analyzing at least one government identificationdocument, wherein analyzing includes authenticating the at least onegovernment identification document. The method may further includeextracting personally identifiable information pertaining to a user fromthe at least one government identification document and displaying adigital copy of a document to be signed to the user. The method may alsoinclude capturing an electronic signature of the document by the userand receiving personally identifiable information, wherein thepersonally identifiable information pertains to the user and enables theuser to be uniquely identified. The method may further include enablinga wireless transmitter to transmit a document signing transactionsession.

One or more of the following features may be included. In someembodiments, receiving may be performed, at least in part, using adocument scanner configured to scan the at least one governmentidentification document associated with the user. The at least onegovernment identification document may include at least one of aphotograph of the user and a signature of the user. In some embodiments,receiving may be performed, at least in part, using a camera configuredto capture a real-time image of the user, wherein the real-time imageincludes personally identifiable information. The method may furtherinclude comparing the real-time image of the user with a reference imageof the user and determining a confidence score for the comparison,wherein the confidence score determines whether the comparison is to bevalidated by a supervisor. The method may also include recording thedocument signing transaction session and generating a unique documentidentification number, wherein the unique document identification numberis associated with the document signing transaction session. The methodmay further include storing at least one of the document signingtransaction session and the unique document identification number. Thedocument signing transaction session may include at least one of, thedigital copy of the document, the electronic signature, the at least onegovernment identification document, and the personally identifiableinformation. The document signing transaction session may be transmittedin response to at least one of a prompt from a monitoring network and aresponse to an input from the user.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-implementedelectronic signature validation method is provided. The method mayinclude displaying a digital copy of a document to be signed by a userand capturing an electronic signature of the digital document by theuser. The method may further include receiving, at mobile device,personally identifiable information, wherein the personally identifiableinformation pertains to a user and enables the user to be uniquelyidentified. The mobile device may be configured to capture a real-timeimage of the user, wherein the real-time image includes personallyidentifiable information. The method may include enabling a wirelesstransmitter to transmit a document signing transaction session.

One or more of the following features may be included. In someembodiments, receiving may be performed, at least in part, using adocument scanner configured to scan the at least one governmentidentification document associated with the user. The at least onegovernment identification document may include at least one of aphotograph of the user and a signature of the user. The method mayfurther include analyzing the at least one government identificationdocument, wherein the analyzing includes authenticating the at least onegovernment identification document. The method may also includeextracting personally identifiable information pertaining to the userfrom the at least one government identification document. The documentsigning transaction session may include at least one of, the digitaldocument, the electronic signature, the at least one governmentidentification document, and the personally identifiable information.The method may include comparing the real-time image of the user with areference image of the user and determining a confidence score for thecomparison. The method may also include recording the document signingtransaction session and generating a unique document identificationnumber, wherein the unique document identification number is associatedwith the document signing transaction session. The method may furtherinclude storing the document signing transaction session. The documentsigning transaction session may be transmitted in response to at leastone of a prompt from a monitoring network and a response to an inputfrom the user.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic signaturevalidation system is provided. The system may include at least oneprocessor configured to display a digital copy of a document to besigned by a user and to capture an electronic signature of the digitaldocument by the user. The at least one processor may be furtherconfigured to receive personally identifiable information, wherein thepersonally identifiable information pertains to a user and enables theuser to be uniquely identified. The at least one processor may beconfigured to enable a wireless transmitter to transmit a documentsigning transaction session.

One or more of the following features may be included. In someembodiments, the personally identifiable information may includebiometric data selected from the group consisting of a DNA analysis, anearlobe geometry analysis, an eye pattern analysis, a facial recognitionanalysis, a fingerprint analysis, a hand geometry analysis, a signatureanalysis and a voice waveform analysis. The document signing transactionsession may include at least one of, the digital document, theelectronic signature, the personally identifiable information, and atleast one government identification document. In some embodiments,receiving may include capturing a real-time image of the user, whereinthe real-time image includes personally identifiable information. The atleast one processor may be further configured to compare the real-timeimage of the user with a reference image of the user and to determine aconfidence score for the comparison. The at least one processor may befurther configured to record the document signing transaction sessionand to generate a unique document identification number, wherein theunique document identification number is associated with the documentsigning transaction session. The at least one processor may be furtherconfigured to allow for store the document signing transaction session.

The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features and advantages willbecome apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of various techniques directed to a system and a method forvalidating authorship of an electronic signature session, will hereafterbe described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should beunderstood, however, that the accompanying drawings illustrate only thevarious embodiments described herein, and are not meant to limit thescope of the various techniques described herein.

FIG. 1 is an illustrative diagrammatic view of an electronic signaturevalidation process coupled to a distributed computing network, accordingto one or more embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an illustrative flowchart of the electronic signaturevalidation process of FIG. 1 , according to one or more embodiments ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an illustrative diagrammatic view of a client electronicsignature validation application scanning interface, according to one ormore embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an illustrative diagrammatic view of a client electronicsignature application document display interface, according to one ormore embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 is an illustrative diagrammatic view of a client electronicsignature application verification interface, according to one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings may indicate likeelements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

System Overview:

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, examples of which are illustrated in FIGS. 1-5 . The presentdisclosure may, however, be implemented in many different forms andshould not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forthherein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosurewill be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of thedisclosure to those skilled in the art.

Referring now to FIG. 1 there is shown an electronic signaturevalidation (ESV) process that may reside on and/or be executed by amicroprocessor(s) (not shown) that may be executed by one or more clientelectronic devices (e.g., client electronic devices 28, 30, 32 and/or34, respectfully). Examples of client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, and34 may include, but are not limited to, a personal computer(s) 28, anotebook computer(s) 30, a smartphone(s) 32, a laptop computer(s) 34,and an application specific device(s) (not shown). The one or moreclient electronic devices 28, 30, 32 and/or 34 may be connected to anetwork 22, wherein the network 22 may be the internet or a local areanetwork. Further, a server ESV process 10 may reside, in whole or part,on server computer 20, which may be connected to network 22.

Embodiments of client ESV process 16 may be configured to leveragesmartphone 32 technology (e.g. smartphone audio/visual recordings,Global Positioning System (GPS), etc.), and may include one or moredownloadable applications, an application specific device, cellularconnectivity, and a web based monitoring system. Accordingly client ESVprocess 16 may validate authorship of a user's (e.g. user 48) electronicsignature of a digital copy of a document 410.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 5 , while client ESV process 16 isdepicted in FIG. 1 , and throughout the disclosure as residing in wholeor in part on a smartphone 32 this is intended to be for illustrativepurposes only. The smartphone 32 may be any mobile computing device,some of which may include, but are not limited to a tablet, a phablet,smartwatch, or an application specific device, wherein the mobilecomputing device is capable of executing in whole or part the client ESVprocess 16.

Referring again to FIG. 2 , there is shown a flowchart for a method 200for transmitting a document signing transaction session from a clientESV application 76 to an ESV application 72, wherein the documentsigning transaction session may be associated with a user 48. In someinstances the document signing transaction session may includepersonally identifiable information, wherein the personally identifiableinformation may enable the user 48 to be uniquely identified. ESVprocess 10 may include analyzing (210) at least one governmentidentification document, wherein the analyzing includes authenticatingthe at least one government identification document. Embodiments mayfurther include extracting (215) personally identifiable informationpertaining to a user from the at least one government identificationdocument. Embodiments may also include displaying (220) a digital copyof a document to be signed to the user and capturing (225) an electronicsignature of the document by the user. Embodiments may further includereceiving (230) personally identifiable information, wherein thepersonally identifiable information pertains to the user and enables theuser to be uniquely identified. Embodiments may also includetransmitting (235) a document signing transaction session. Numerousother operations are also within the scope of the present disclosure,which are discussed in further detail hereinbelow.

In some embodiments, the client ESV application 76 may be executed byclient ESV process 16, and client ESV process 16 may reside on, and maybe executed by client device 32, wherein client device 32 is asmartphone 32. Client ESV application 76 may be a standalone client ESVapplication 76. The ESV application 72 may be executed by server ESVprocess 10, and server ESV process 10 may reside on and may be executedby server computer 20. Server computer 20 may be one or more webservers, wherein the ESV application 72 may be a web base application.

It should be understood that while method 200 indicates a particularorder of execution of operations, in some instances, certain portions ofthe operations may be performed in a different order, and on differentsystems. Further, in some other instances, additional operations orsteps may be added to method 200. Similarly, some operations or stepsmay be omitted from method 200.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include monitoring one or moresensor(s), wherein the one or more sensors are configured to collectpersonally identifiable information pertaining to the user 48. Forexample, the smartphone 32 may include a camera, wherein the camera maybe configured to capture a real-time image 510 of the user. Thereal-time image 510 of the user 48 may be used to uniquely identify theuser 48 and/or verify that the user is performing a required act,wherein the required act may be signing a digital copy of a document 410with an electronic signature, executing an oath, making an affidavitetc.

In some embodiments, the personally identifiable information may includebiometric data and/or location data. For example, the biometric data mayinclude at least some of a DNA analysis, an earlobe geometry analysis,an eye patterns analysis, a facial recognition analysis, a fingerprintanalysis, a hand geometry analysis, a signature analysis, and a voicewaveform analysis. For example, the location data may include one moreof Global Positioning System (GPS) data, Wi-Fi access pointidentification information, cell phone tower identification information,wherein the location data is Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS)data. The personally identifiable information pertaining to user 48 mayenable the user 48 and his/her location to be uniquely identified, andthereby validate authorship of an electronic signature session.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include scanning one or moreforms of government identification document(s) associated with the user48, wherein the one or more forms of government identificationdocument(s) include personally identifiable information. For example,the client ESV process 16 may utilize one or more camera(s) of thesmartphone 32 to scan one or more forms of government identificationdocument(s), wherein the one or more forms of government identificationdocument(s) may include at least one of, Social Security Card, driver'slicense, government issued identification card, military identification,passport, passport card, birth certificate, Department of Defenseidentification card, Certificate of U.S. Citizenship, Certificate ofNaturalization, Green Card, NEXUS card, SENTRI card etc. In someinstances, the ESV process 16 may utilize one or more camera(s) of thesmartphone 32 to capture an image of the one or more forms of governmentidentification document(s) provided by the user 48. For example, theuser 48 may use their smartphone 32 to take a picture of their drivinglicense 310, and the image may be uploaded to client ESV application 76and/or ESV application 72 for processing, wherein ESV application 72 isa web based ESV application.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include authenticating the oneor more forms of government identification document(s), wherein theauthenticity of the one or more form(s) of government identificationdocument(s) may be validated. In some instances, the authentication maybe done by one or more supervisors 66 and/or the authentication may bedone by one or more software analysis programs. The one or more softwareanalysis programs may be part of the client ESV application 16 and/orpart of the ESV application 72.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include extracting personallyidentifiable information pertaining to the user from the one or moreforms of government identification. In some instances, the extraction ofpersonally identification information may be done by one or moresoftware analysis programs. The one or more software analysis programsmay be part of the client ESV application 16 and/or part of the ESVapplication 72. For example the user 48 may take a picture of theirgovernment identification document using their smartphone 32 camera, andthe one or more software analysis programs may digitize the user's 48photograph 320 and/or signature 330, which may be incorporated into thegovernment identification document. In some instances, the user's 48digitized personal identification information may be used as areference. For example, a photograph 320 of the user 48 may be extractedfrom an authenticated form of government identification and used as areference image 520 of the user 48. In another embodiment, the ESVprocess 10 may include extracting at least one of the user's date ofbirth 340, driving license number 390, eye color 380, hair color 360,height 370, social security number, residential address 350, sex 355,weight 350 etc., wherein the extracted information may be recorded, thisinformation may also be used for identification purposes. In someinstances, the user's extracted information may be used to autofillrequired fields 420 within the digital copy of the document 410.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include displaying a digitalcopy of a document 410. The digital copy of the document 410 may bedisplayed on a screen of the smartphone 32. A user may scroll throughthis document 410, and may select one or more fields 420 within thedocument 410 that require the user's electronic signature. The user mayselect fields 420 within the document 410 using a pointing device,wherein the pointing device may be the user's finger and/or a stylus. Toadminister the signature session the smartphone's 32 display may beconfigured as an input field, wherein the user may draw their signature,using their finger or a stylus as if it were a handwritten signatureusing pen and paper.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include capturing the user'ssignature, wherein the user's signature is digitized. The ESV process 16may further allow the user to place their electronic signature in theone or more fields 420 within the document 410, wherein the electronicsignature may be scaled to fit the document field 420. In someinstances, the electronic signature may be automatically be scaled tofit the document field 420 by the ESV process 16. The user and/or ESVprocess 16 may further verify that an electronic signature has beenplaced in all the required fields 420 in the document 410, whereupon thedocument 410 may be consider executed by the user. By executing thedocument 410 the user may be considered to have adopted the contents ofthe document 410.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include comparing the real-timeimage 510 of the user with a reference image 520 of the user 48. Thereal-time image 510 may be used to uniquely identify the user 48 andconfirm that the user 48 is performing a required task, wherein therequired task is the electronic signature of a digital document 410. Insome instances, the comparison may be done by one or more supervisors 66and/or the comparison may be done by one or more software analysisprograms. The one or more software analysis programs may be part of theclient ESV application 16 and/or part of the ESV application 72.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include facial recognitiontechnology. For example, storage device 24 may include a database ofstored images associated with each particular user of the client ESVapplication 76, wherein the stored images may be authenticated images.In some instances, each user may be validated by sending a capturedphoto and/or video from their smartphone 32 over the network(s) 22and/or 26, whereupon the photo may be compared against the images storedwithin the database of stored images in order to validate the user's 48identity. Other biometric sensors and validation techniques may also beused without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Additionally and/or alternatively, the facial recognition, biometric andlocation approaches described herein may be used wholly or partly withany other features of the ESV process 10.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include determining a confidencescore by means of software or human analysis. For example, ESV process16 may compare the real-time image 510 of the user with a referenceimage 520 of the user 48, for the purpose of positively identifying theuser 48, wherein the reference image 520 may have been extracted fromone or more forms of government identification documents describedherein. In some instances, the comparison may be performed by one ormore software facial recognition programs, wherein one or more softwarefacial recognition programs assign a confidence score based upon theiranalysis of whether the person identified in the reference image 520corresponds to the person depicted in the real-time image 510. Further,there may a threshold value for the confidence score, wherein thethreshold value may determine whether the comparison is to be validatedby a supervisor 66. In another embodiment, the verification may beperformed entirely by a supervisor 66, and the supervisor 66 may assigna confidence score based on their analysis. In this instance, the ESVprocess 16 may live stream the document signing transaction session,wherein the document signing transaction session may be streamed in partor in its entirety.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include recording a documentsigning transaction session, wherein the document signing transactionsession may be recorded in part or in its entirety. For example, the ESVprocess 16 may utilize one or more camera(s) of the smartphone 32 torecord a real-time image 510 of the user 48, wherein the real-time image510 may be used to authenticate the identity of the user 48 and/orcapture an image of the user 48 signing a digital copy of the document410. The recording of the document signing transaction session mayinclude at least some of, but not limited to, one or more forms ofgovernment identification documents, the digital document 410 to besigned, the user 48 signing the digital document 410, one or more formsof personally identifiable information as described herein etc. Therecording of the document signing transaction session may furtherinclude a unique document identification number, wherein a uniquedocument identification number is associated with each recording. Inanother embodiment, the recording may also record, and thereby identifyin the case of a multi-party recording, any witnesses to the user 48signing the digital document 410. The recording may also includemetadata, such as the user's identifying information, who witnessed thedocument signing transaction session, location information, and otherinformation relevant to the document signing transaction session. Therecording may be transmitted in real-time to a ESV network 22 and/or 26,associated with the ESV application 72.

In some embodiments, ESV process 16 may include generating a uniqueidentification number. The unique identification number may beassociated with the document signing transaction session and may be aproprietary unique identification number. The unique identificationnumber may be based upon, at least in part, the document signingtransaction session metadata. In some instances, the uniqueidentification number may be used to endorse the validity of thedocument signing transaction session. For example, the ESV process 16may generate a unique identification number based upon, at least inpart, the confidence score being greater than a threshold value and/ordocument signing transaction session be validated by a supervisor 66. Insome instances, the supervisor 66 may further record that they observedthe document signing transaction session in its entirety, whereupon theunique identification number may be appended to and/or added to thedocument signing transaction session. In another embodiment, acertification mark and/or seal may be appended to and/or added to thedocument 410, wherein the certification mark may be a proprietary mark.The unique identification number may be used to retrieve the documentsigning transaction session at a later date.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include storing the documentsigning transaction session. In some instances, ESV process 16 may storethe document signing transaction session locally on the smartphonestorage device 32. The document signing transaction session may later beretrieved and transmitted to ESV application 72, wherein the documentsigning transaction session may be stored on network storage device 24.The stored document signing transaction session may be stored for laterretrieval and/or reference, wherein the unique identification number maybe used to retrieve the document signing transaction session. Theinformation pertaining to the signing transaction session and theexecuted document will be stored in a manner such that they arelogically associated together so that the session details may laterserve as supplementary verification details for the document itself.

In some embodiments, ESV process 10 may include enabling a wirelesstransmitter to transmit a document signing transaction session, whereinthe document signing transaction session includes at least one of, thedigital document 410, one or more electronic signatures, one or moreforms of government identification document(s) or evidence of othermeans of identity verification, a real-time recording of the user, areal-time recording of one or more witness, a unique documentidentification number, the audit trail of the identify verificationmethod, the video recording of the signing session, a confidence numberetc. The document signing transaction session may be transmitted fromthe smartphone 32 to ESV application 72. Further, the document signingtransaction session may be transmitted in response to a prompt from themonitoring network 22 and/or 26, or at the initiation of the user 48.

Referring now to FIG. 3 , there is shown a diagrammatic view of a clientESV application 76 scanning interface 300 depicted on the display of themobile smartphone 32. The scanning interface 300 may permit the user toscan one or more forms of government identification document(s)associated with the user 48. For example, the user may utilize one ormore camera(s) of the smartphone 32 to capture an image of the one ormore forms of government identification document(s). The one or moreforms of government identification document(s) may include at least oneof, Social Security Card, driver's license 310, government issuedidentification card, military identification, passport, passport card,birth certificate, Department of Defense identification card,Certificate of U.S. Citizenship, Certificate of Naturalization, GreenCard, NEXUS card, SENTRI card etc. For example, the user 48 may usetheir smartphone 32 to take a picture of their driving license 310, andthe picture may be uploaded to client ESV application 76 and/or ESVapplication 72. The uploaded picture may further be authenticated by oneor more software analysis programs, wherein the one or more softwareanalysis programs may be associated with client ESV application 16. Insome instances, personally identifiable information pertaining to theuser may be extracted from the driving license 310. For example, aphotograph 320 of the user 48 may be extracted from the user's drivinglicense 310 and used as a reference image 520 for the user 48.Alternatively/additionally, a signature 330 of the user 48 may beextracted from the user's driving license 310 and used as a referencesignature 330 for the user 48.

Referring now also to FIG. 4 , there is shown a diagrammatic view of aclient ESV 76 application document display interface 400. The documentdisplay interface 400 may display a digital copy of the document 410 ona screen of the smartphone 32. The user may select fields 420 within thedocument 410 using a pointing device which may require their electronicsignature. To administer a signature the smartphone's 32 display may beconfigured as an input field, wherein the user may draw their signatureusing their finger or a stylus as if it were a handwritten signatureusing pen and paper.

Referring now also to FIG. 5 , there is shown a diagrammatic view of aclient application ESV 76 user verification interface 500. The user 48may be presented with an visual and/or audio prompt as part of the ESVprocess 10, wherein the prompt may include instructions to perform oneor more specific actions. The client monitoring application 76 mayutilize at least some of the smartphone 32 sensor(s) to collectpersonally identifiable information pertaining to the user 48, whereinthe personally identifiable information may enable the user 48 to beuniquely identified. For example, the smartphone 32 may include one ormore camera(s), and the one or more camera(s) may be configured by theclient ESV application 76 to capture a real-time image 510 of the user48. The real-time image 510 may be a still image and/or a video image ofthe user 48. The one or more real-time image(s) 510 may be time and/ordate stamped. The still image and the video image may have differentresolutions, and may be used for different purposes. For example, thestill image may have a higher resolution than the video image, and maybe used to uniquely identify the user 48. The video image may have alower resolution than the still image, and may be used to confirm thatan user 48 is performing a required task. For instance, the video imagemay be used to confirm that the user 48 is performing a required task,such as signing the document 410, and/or saying an identifiable anddistinguishable phrase, such as their name. In some instances the videoimage may be used to uniquely identify the user 48.

Referring again to FIG. 5 , there is a shown a diagrammatic view of areal-time image 510 of the user 48 compared to a reference image 520 ofthe user 48. The reference image 520 may be may be stored locally (e.g.via storage device 40) and/or remotely (e.g. via storage device 24) atone or more storage locations. In another embodiment, the referenceimage 520 may be stored locally 40, and may be used to prompt the user48 as to the requirements of the real-time image 510 that is to berecorded. For example, the reference image 520 may be a facial portrait,and the may be used to inform the user 48 of the relative size of thereal-time image 510 that is to be recorded. The reference image 520 maybe at least one of, a generic profile image, a previously recorded andstored reference image 520 of the user 48, and a generic facial profilesilhouette. The reference image 520 may be used to align, and resize thereal-time image 510. For instance, the real-time image 510 may besuperimposed upon the reference image 520, and recording of thereal-time image 510 may automatically begin when the real-time image 510and the reference image 520 are substantially aligned. Alternatively,the reference image 520 may be displayed adjacent to the real-time image510, and used as a visual reference for a supervisor 66.

In some embodiments, the reference image 520 may enable the user 48 tobe uniquely identified. For example, a supervisor 66 may compare thereal-time image 510 with the reference image 520 for the purpose ofuniquely identifying the user 48. The supervisor 66 may have the optionto approve the real-time image 510 using an approval button 530 orreject the real-time image 510 using a rejection button 540, wherein theapproval may or may not be in real-time. In some instances, thecomparison may be may be done by one or more software analysis programs.The one or more software analysis programs may be part of the client ESVprocess 16 and/or ESV process 10, wherein ESV process 10 may be a webbased monitoring process.

In some embodiments, the user's 48 current location and/or location datamay be determined by the client monitoring application 76, andtransmitted to the monitoring application 72, as part of the documentsigning transaction session described herein. The location data may beobtained from an integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) sensorwithin the smartphone 32. The location data may further be AssistedGlobal Positioning System (A-GPS) data, wherein GPS data is supplementedby Wi-Fi access point identification information and/or cell phone toweridentification information.

In some embodiments, the method may further include the process ofknowledge based authentication and/or antecedent proofing, whereby theuser must successfully answer identity challenge questions to validatetheir identity. Accordingly, given information about the person, themethod may generate out of wallet or identity challenge questions. Thecustomer must answer them correctly. This may be provided as analternative to the photo ID based identity verification. If it passes,the audit trail of the transaction may be stored, just like that of thephoto ID. The method may also include an identity examination where theuser is required to answer identity challenge questions.

In some embodiments, each document may be “locked” or sealed with adigital security certificate. This certificate may be associated withthe “observer” and may be associated with the graphical seal that theyapply. The certificate locks the document so it cannot be edited, italso binds the document to the “observer” so that the observer mayvalidate the transaction after the fact.

In some embodiments, any and all data may be stored in a logicallyassociated way. As such, the document may be locked/encrypted and may beassociated with the record of the transaction such that the document andthe transaction can be independently verified via the recorded detailsof the transaction.

Referring once more to FIG. 1 , an ESV process may be coupled to acomputer or computer network. For example, server ESV process 10 mayreside on and may be executed by server computer 20, which may beconnected to network 22 (e.g., the Internet or a local area network).Examples of server computer 20 may include, but are not limited to: apersonal computer, a server computer, a series of server computers, amini computer, and/or a mainframe computer. Server computer 20 may be aweb server (or a series of servers) running a network operating system,examples of which may include but are not limited to: Microsoft® WindowsServer®; Novell® Netware®; or Red Hat® Linux®, for example. (Microsoftand Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in theUnited States, other countries or both; Novell and NetWare areregistered trademarks of Novell Corporation in the United States, othercountries or both; Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red HatCorporation in the United States, other countries or both; and Linux isa registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, othercountries or both.)

The instruction sets and subroutines of server ESV process 10, which maybe stored on storage device 24 coupled to server computer 20, may beexecuted by one or more processors (not shown) and one or more memoryarchitectures (not shown) incorporated into server computer 20. Storagedevice 24 may include but is not limited to: a hard disk drive; a flashdrive, a tape drive; an optical drive; a RAID array; a random accessmemory (RAM); a read-only memory (ROM); an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM); and a Flash memory.

Server computer 20 may execute a web server application, examples ofwhich may include but are not limited to: Microsoft® IIS, Novell® WebServer, or Apachce® Tomcat®, that allows for access to server computer20 (via network 22) using one or more protocols, examples of which mayinclude but are not limited to HTTP (i.e., HyperText Transfer Protocol).SIP (i.e., session initiation protocol), and the Lotus® Sametime® VPprotocol. (Webserver is a trademark of Novell Corporation in the UnitedStates, other countries, or both; Apache and Tomcat are registeredtrademarks of Apache Software Foundation in the United States, othercountries, or both; Lotus and Sametime are registered trademarks ofInternational Business Machine Corporation in the United States othercountries, or both). Network 22 may be connected to one or moresecondary networks (e.g., network 26), examples of which may include butare not limited to: a local area network; a wide area network; or anintranet, for example.

In addition/as an alternative to server ESV process 10, one or moreclient ESV processes (e.g., client ESV processes 12, 14, 16, 18) mayreside on and may be executed by one or more client electronic devices(e.g., client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, and/or 34, respectively).Accordingly, in some embodiments, the ESV process may be a server-sideprocess, in which all of the functionality may be performed on servercomputer 20. Further, the ESV process may be a client-side process, inwhich all of the functionally may be performed on a client electronicdevice. In still further embodiments, the ESV process may include ahybrid server-client process, in which at least at least one of thefunctionality may be performed by a server device and at least at leastone of the functionality may be performed by a client device.

Examples of client electronic devices may include but are not limited topersonal computer 28, laptop computer 30, a smartphone 32, notebookcomputer 34, personal digital assistant (not shown), and an applicationspecific device, a tablet (not shown), a server (not shown), atelevision (not shown), a smart television (not shown), a media (e.g.,video, photo, etc.) capturing device (not shown), and a dedicatednetwork device (not shown). Client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34 mayeach be coupled to network 22 and/or network 26 and may each execute anoperating system, examples of which may include but are not limited toAndroid™, Apple® iOS®, Mac® OS X®; Microsoft® Windows®, MicrosoftWindows CEO, Red Hat® Linux®, or a custom operating system. (Android isa registered trademark of Google Inc.; Microsoft and Windows areregistered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States,other countries or both; Apple iOS, Mac and OS X are registeredtrademarks of Apple Inc. in the United States, other countries or both;Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red Hat Corporation in the UnitedStates, other countries or both; and Linux is a registered trademark ofLinus Torvalds in the United States, other countries or both).

The instruction sets and subroutines of client ESV processes 12, 14, 16,18, which may be stored on storage devices 36, 38, 40, and 42(respectively) coupled to client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, and 34(respectively), may be executed by one or more processors (not shown)and one or more memory architectures (not shown) incorporated intoclient electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34 (respectively). Storage devices36, 38, 40, and 42 may include but are not limited to: a hard diskdrive; a solid state drive (SSD), a flash drive, a tape drive; anoptical drive; a RAID array; a random access memory (RAM); a read-onlymemory (ROM); an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM); and aFlash memory.

Users 44, 46, 48, and 50 (also variously referred to as “users.”“monitors” 66, “agents” 66 or “supervisors” 66) may access an ESVprocess in various ways. For example, at least some of these users mayaccess server ESV process 10 directly through the device on which aclient process (e.g., client ESV processes 12, 14, 16, 18) is executed,namely client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34. Users 44, 46, 48, 50may access server ESV process 10 directly through network 22 and/orthrough secondary network 26. Further, server computer 20 (i.e., thecomputer that executes server ESV process 10) may be connected tonetwork 22 through secondary network 26, as illustrated with phantomlink line 52. Users 44, 46, 48, 50 may also access an ESV application insimilar ways. ESV process 10 may include one or more user interfaces,such as browsers and textual or graphical user interfaces, through whichusers 44, 46, 48, 50 may access ESV process 10.

The various client electronic devices may be directly or indirectlycoupled to network 22 (or network 26). For example, personal computer 28is shown directly coupled to network 22 via a hardwired networkconnection. Further, notebook computer 34 is shown directly coupled tonetwork 26 via a hardwired network connection. Laptop computer 30 isshown wirelessly coupled to network 22 via wireless communicationchannel 54 established between laptop computer 30 and wireless accesspoint (i.e., WAP) 56, which is shown directly coupled to network 22. WAP56 may be, for example, an IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n,Wi-Fi, and/or Bluetooth device that is capable of establishing wirelesscommunication channel 54 between laptop computer 30 and WAP 56.Smartphone 32 is shown wirelessly coupled to network 22 via wirelesscommunication channel 58 established between smartphone 32 and cellularnetwork/bridge 60, which is shown directly coupled to network 22.

Some or all of the IEEE 802.11x specifications may use Ethernet protocoland carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (i.e.,CSMA/CA) for path sharing. The various 802.11x specifications may usephase-shift keying (i.e., PSK) modulation or complementary code keying(i.e., CCK) modulation, for example. Bluetooth™ is a telecommunicationsindustry specification that allows, e.g., mobile phones, computers,smartphones, and other electronic devices to be interconnected using ashort-range wireless connection. The short-range wireless connection mayinclude one or more proprietary wireless interfaces and/or protocols.Other forms of interconnection (e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC))may also be used.

For the enclosed discussion, client ESV process 16 has been describedfor illustrative purposes. It will be understood that client ESV process16 may, for example, interact and/or communicate with server ESV process10 and/or may be executed within one or more applications that allow forcommunication with other server and/or client ESV processes. This is notintended to be a limitation of this disclosure, as other configurationsare possible (e.g., smartphone ESV process 16 may include stand-aloneclient processes and/or stand-alone server processes.) For example, someembodiments may include one or more of client ESV processes 12, 14, 18or server ESV process 10 in place of or in addition to client ESVapplication 76.

Computer 20 may include a data store, such as a database (e.g.,relational database, object-oriented database, triplestore database,etc.) and may be located within any suitable memory location, such asstorage device 24 coupled to computer 20. Any data described throughoutthe present disclosure may be stored in the data store. In someembodiments, computer 20 may utilize a database management system suchas, but not limited to, “My Structured Query Language” (MySQL®) in orderto provide multi-user access to one or more databases, such as the abovenoted relational database. The data store may also be a custom database,such as, for example, a flat file database or an XML database. Any otherform(s) of a data storage structure and/or organization may also beused. ESV process 10 may be a component of the data store, a stand-aloneapplication that interfaces with the above noted data store and/or anapplet/application that is accessed via client applications 22, 24, 26,and 28. The above noted data store may be, in whole or in part,distributed in a cloud computing topology. In this way, computer 20 andstorage device 24 may refer to multiple devices, which may also bedistributed throughout the network.

Computer 20 may execute a ESV application (e.g., ESV application 72).ESV process 10 and/or ESV application 72 may be accessed via clientapplications 70, 74, 76, and 78. ESV process 10 may be a standaloneapplication, or may be an applet/application/script/extension that mayinteract with and/or be executed within ESV application 72, a componentof ESV application 72, and/or one or more of client applications 70, 74,76, and 78. ESV application 72 may be a standalone application, or maybe an applet/application/script/extension that may interact with and/orbe executed within ESV process 10, a component of ESV process 10, and/orone or more of client applications 70, 74, 76, and 78. One or more ofclient applications 70, 74, 76, and 78 may be a standalone application,or may be an applet/application/script/extension that may interact withand/or be executed within and/or be a component of ESV process 10 and/orESV application 72. The instruction sets and subroutines of clientapplications 70, 74, 76, and 78, which may be stored on storage devices36, 38, 40, 42, coupled to client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, and 34may be executed by one or more processors (not shown) and one or morememory architectures (not shown) incorporated into client electronicdevices 28, 20, 32, and 34.

One or more of client applications 70, 74, 76, and 78 may be configuredto effectuate some or all of the functionality of ESV application 20(and vice versa). Accordingly, ESV application 72 may be a purelyserver-side application, a purely client-side application, or a hybridserver-side/client-side application that is cooperatively executed byone or more of client applications 70, 74, 76, and 78 and/or ESVapplication 20. As one or more of client applications 70, 74, 76, and78, ESV process 10, and ESV application 20, taken singly or in anycombination, may effectuate some or all of the same functionality, anydescription of effectuating such functionality via one or more of clientapplications 70, 74, 76, and 78, ESV process 10, ESV application 72, orcombination thereof, and any described interaction(s) between one ormore of client applications 70, 74, 76, and 78, ESV process 10, ESVapplication 72, or combination thereof to effectuate such functionality,should be taken as an example only and not to limit the scope of thedisclosure.

While certain embodiments disclosed herein may be based upon a UnitedStates notary process and may involve and/or incorporate the laws andregulations according thereto it should be noted that the teachings ofthe present disclosure may be extended to other jurisdictions as well.Accordingly, embodiments of ESV process 10 may be used in any suitablecountry and/or geographical area.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be implemented as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure may take theform of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of acomputer program product implemented in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical drive,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present disclosure are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in anon-transient computer readable medium that can direct a computer, otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computerreadable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructionswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible embodiments ofsystems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative embodiments, the functions noted in the blockmay occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocksshown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the disclosure and the practical application, and toenable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosurefor various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

Having thus described the disclosure of the present application indetail and by reference to embodiment(s) thereof, it will be apparentthat modifications, variations, and any combinations of embodiment(s)(including any modifications, variations, and combinations thereof) arepossible without departing from the scope of the disclosure defined inthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic signature validation methodcomprising: receiving, via at least one network, from a remote device, acopy of at least one government identification document associated witha user, wherein the at least one government identification documentcomprises a reference image of the user; transmitting, via the at leastone network, to the remote device, a copy of a digital document to bedisplayed to the user; receiving, via the at least one network, from theremote device, an electronic signature of the digital document by theuser, wherein the electronic signature is captured during a documentsigning session, wherein the document signing session is attended by theuser and an observer who observes an act of signing by the user duringthe document signing session; causing one or more identity challengequestions to be displayed to the user; analyzing the copy of the atleast one government identification document, wherein the analyzingincludes authenticating the at least one government identificationdocument; extracting first personally identifiable informationpertaining to the user from the copy of the at least one governmentidentification document; further receiving, via the at least onenetwork, from the remote device, second personally identifiableinformation, wherein the second personally identifiable informationincludes at least one real-time image of the user and enables the userto be uniquely identified; causing to display, side by side, the atleast one real-time image of the user and the reference image of theuser; causing to resize or align the at least one real-time image of theuser based on the reference image of the user; in response to aninstruction from the observer, applying to the signed digital document agraphical seal associated with the observer; using a digital certificateassociated with the observer to lock the signed and sealed digitaldocument, thereby binding the digital document to the observer; storinga record of the document signing session, wherein the record comprisesthe signed, sealed, and locked digital document and video recordings ofboth the user and the observer using one or more cameras, wherein therecord of the document signing session further includes the copy of theat least one government identification document and/or the firstpersonally identifiable information; generating a unique documentidentification number for the document signing session; and associatingthe unique document identification number with the record of thedocument signing session.
 2. The electronic signature validation methodof claim 1, wherein: the copy of the at least one governmentidentification document is captured, at least in part, using a documentscanner configured to scan the at least one government identificationdocument associated with the user.
 3. The electronic signaturevalidation method of claim 1, wherein: real-time image of the user iscaptured during the document signing session using a camera associatedwith the remote device.
 4. The electronic signature validation method ofclaim 3 further comprising: comparing the real-time image of the userwith the reference image of the user; and determining a confidence scorefor the comparison, wherein the confidence score determines whether thecomparison is to be validated by a supervisor.
 5. An electronicsignature validation system comprising at least one hardware processorconfigured to: receive, via at least one network, from a remote device,a copy of at least one government identification document associatedwith a user, wherein the at least one government identification documentincludes a reference image of the user; transmit, via the at least onenetwork, to the remote device, a copy of a digital document to bedisplayed to the user; receive, via the at least one network, from theremote device, an electronic signature of the digital document by theuser, wherein the electronic signature is captured during a documentsigning session, and wherein the document signing session is attended bythe user and an observer who observes an act of signing by the userduring the document signing session; cause one or more identitychallenge questions to be displayed to the user; analyze the copy of theat least one government identification document for authenticating theat least one government identification document; extract firstpersonally identifiable information pertaining to the user from the copyof the at least one government identification document; further receive,via the at least one network, from the remote device, second personallyidentifiable information, wherein the second personally identifiableinformation includes at least one real-time image of the user andenables the user to be uniquely identified; cause to display, side byside, the at least one real-time image of the user and the referenceimage of the user; cause to resize or align the at least one real-timeimage of the user based on the reference image of the user; in responseto an instruction from the observer, apply to the signed digitaldocument a graphical seal associated with the observer; use a digitalcertificate associated with the observer to lock the signed and sealeddigital document, thereby binding the digital document to the observer;and store a record of the document signing session, wherein the recordcomprises the signed, sealed, and locked digital document and videorecordings of both the user and the observer using one or more cameras,wherein the record of the document signing session further includes thecopy of the at least one government identification document and/or thefirst personally identifiable information; generate a unique documentidentification number for the document signing session; and associatethe unique document identification number with the record of thedocument signing session.
 6. The electronic signature validation systemof claim 5, wherein the record of the document signing session furtherincludes the first personally identifiable information extracted fromthe copy of the at least one government identification document.
 7. Theelectronic signature validation system of claim 5 further comprising:compare the real-time image of the user with a reference image of theuser; and determine a confidence score for the comparison.